5. Levelling the information playing field

Evolving technologies deliver the message

Sustainable development can't be delivered by governments alone. Informed citizen involvement is essential.

Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration states: "At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities… and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes." National governments, it adds, "shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available."

The theme is picked up by Chapter 40 of Agenda 21, entitled "Information for Decision-making." It identifies two key areas for action: bridging the data gap and improving the availability of information.

In the past, one of the obstacles to greater public participation has been a lack of information. However, the last decade has seen some valuable progress towards informing and involving ordinary people--thanks in no small part to the explosive growth in electronic communications such as the Internet and the cellular telephone.

As citizens become better informed about sustainability issues, the onus is on governments to follow the spirit of Principle 10 by guaranteeing them a voice in the policy-making process. A major step in this direction was made in June 1998 with the adoption of the Aarhus Convention (more formally known as the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters).

One of the three pillars of the treaty deals with access to information. It enables the public to obtain information on environmental matters from the authorities, as an essential step towards participation in decision-making.

One of the ways in which citizens are being furnished with environmental information is through disclosure: the requirement that companies disclose pollutants released into the environment. Individuals concerned about the health impacts of a particular industrial facility can increasingly turn to published databases of emissions, or environmental quality indicators, to find out whether their health is at risk. The Internet has simplified this process.

As environmental policy-making becomes more transparent, and access to information more widespread, a note of caution should be sounded. Even if environmental information is publicly available, there is no guarantee that citizens will have the means to access it--particularly people living in remote areas, or in poor countries. A staggering 90 per cent of Internet users, and a similar percentage of cellular phone subscribers, live in developed countries. Even within the developing world, the uptake of communication technologies has so far tended to be concentrated in a few dozen countries, principally in Latin America and East Asia. Narrowing the digital divide within and between countries remains a priority.

In many places where access is limited, human ingenuity has taken the place of information technology. For example, in some remote communities in developing countries, indirect connections to the Internet have been established via shortwave radio with Web information being shared by voice from hundreds of kilometers away.

The empowerment of individuals and communities through access to information is one of the most significant achievements since Rio, literally transforming how the world goes about its business.